Clare welcomed Rachel Kelley and Cara Gates from the Dementia Research Group at Leeds Beckett University. There are researching the involvement of families in the hospital care of patients with Dementia.

Dementia is an umbrella term for various diseases which impact the brain. Alzheimer’s is a common type, caused by the build-up of protein. Pick’s disease is another – recently shown on the programme The Trouble With Dad with David Baddiel.

Dementia does not just occur in old people and not all old people suffer from Dementia.

It is also not just about losing your memory, you can lose communication skills, logical reasoning, sequencing skills and perception can all be affected.

Adaptions can be made once problems diagnosed e.g. an elderly person who has lost recent memories may only remember boiling a kettle by putting it on the cooker, in which case you would get them that type of kettle rather than an electric one.

Rachel shared some statistics:

25% of patients in General Hospitals have Dementia (though they may be in there for a variety of reasons)

They often have a poorer experience of care and are distressed, disoriented and unable to communicate their problems.

This can have serious consequences such as malnutrition, dehydration, infection, delirium, higher mortality rates, more like to end up in institutional care.

For 50% of those patients the Dementia is not diagnosed.

These patients are 3 times more likely to die during their stay then non-Dementia sufferers.

A third of them did live at home but then did not return home and ended up in some kind of care.

Their hospital stays last twice as long.

Personal knowledge about a patient which is gained when Friends and Family are involved in the support and care can improve the patient’s experience of and outcomes from care. E.g. knowing that a patient always eats toast for breakfast and need their routine so refuses a breakfast of cereal in hospital.

But Hospitals are not always welcoming to visitors so there are a few things going on to address this:

NHS Incentives for Hospitals to take some measures to improve this e.g. rooms for carers to stay, more flexible visiting hours.

Rachel has done a PHD on the impact of Family involvement in care.
In 2016 there were only 9 published studies and these did not involve all 3 parties (patient, medical professionals, family) and focussed on interviews and physical care. Rachel spent 9 months per ward she studied across different NHS trusts.

She carried out interviews but also hours of observations where she sat and watched what was happening, she also had permission to attend meetings with the medical staff and was able to build a story of an individual’s hospital stay. She discovered that there was were lots of causes of disconnects in the care of Dementia patients.

Some visitors would never meet the medical team covering most of their relatives care e.g. they visit in the evening when that shift has gone home

Patients not always involved in decisions

But where there was a Connect this resulted in a better experience

Family being around

Staff have specialist training e.g. making a connection with a patient whilst carrying out a routine task e.g. during time taken to bathe a patient

Make the ward a more homely environment

Knowledge from the family e.g. that one gentleman always said Yes and No the wrong way around

Staff finding out a fact about that person which would trigger a conversation e.g. I hear you used to work in the mill

The current research programme is gathering more evidence about the positive impact of involving family & friends. They are developing a set of guidelines for involving family & friends.
They are developing and testing ways of involving family & friends to meet their needs as well as those of patients and medical staff.

Also people without families need to be considered – what can be done to improve their outcomes?

Become a Dementia Friend or even a Dementia Friend’s Champion (https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/) – this is a social movement about becoming more Dementia friendly with organisations like the Police and Supermarkets getting training.

You can sign up to varying commitments from being more aware and generally supportive to spending time with a specific individual.

Buns & Roses kicked off the year in style with attendees making a name badge with our new supply of Scrabble tiles and using Christmas cards to make decorations or crackers whilst we got down to the serious business of the Resolutions.

The committee presented the shortlisted resolutions:

1. Alleviating loneliness

This meeting calls on every WI and the NFWI to work alongside health and social care providers and their local community to raise awareness of the causes and impacts of loneliness, thus ensuring better identification of lonely people in order to be able to offer them the appropriate assistance and support.

2. FGM: More Awareness for More Action

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK for over 30 years and the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 made it illegal to aid, abet or procure the carrying out of FGM abroad. However, there have been no successful prosecutions of those involved. The NFWI calls on the government to improve efforts to measure and disclose the prevalence of FGM in the UK and to take further action to help secure more successful prosecutions of those involved in this abusive practice and thereby advance the health of women who have suffered or may be at risk of suffering FGM.

There is presently an acute shortage of quality specialised maternal mental health services, meaning that many vulnerable women, their babies, and families face a postcode lottery of perinatal mental health support. The NFWI calls on NHS commissioners to prioritise the development of specialised perinatal mental health support services so that pregnant and postnatal women, their babies, and families are able to access the support they need.

4. Provision of appropriate welfare and safe spaces for women and children in refugee camps

Millions of women and children are fleeing conflict and disaster around the world, finding themselves at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation in refugee camps. This meeting calls on all WI members and the NFWI to raise awareness of the risks facing women and children refugees and push for action to ensure they have access to safe places to eat and sleep, to get the care they need and space to learn and play.

5. Supporting women’s refuges

Many women and children rely on refuges to escape violence and abusive relationships, but in recent years refuges have faced significant cuts to their services. The NFWI calls upon the Government to safeguard refuges and increase service provision in areas without adequate support.

6. Plastic Soup: Keep micro plastic fibres out of our oceans

Micro plastic fibres are shed from synthetic clothing with every wash and are the main contributors to micro plastic contamination of the oceans. The NFWI calls on Government and industry to research and develop innovative solutions to this problem in order to stop the accumulation of micro plastic fibres in our oceans.

Every member had the opportunity to select which resolution they would like to see put forward for voting at the Annual Meeting (AM).
In mid Feb - NFWI Board of Trustees meets to finalise list of resolutions for the AM agenda, based on the number of selection votes from members, progress of existing campaigns and key developments on the resolutions. AM resolution(s) sent from the NFWI to all federations after the Board meets and further briefing notes are published on the NFWI website and Moodle.
AM resolution(s) published in April’s WI Life magazine.

At our May meeting we will review resolution(s) to be voted on at the AM and decide whether we want to vote in favour or against the resolution.

Helen Kemp who has been the Chief Executive of Leeds Mind, for over 2 years gave us an interesting overview of their work and some facts and figures regarding mental health.

Leeds Mind was founded in 1972 and now has 4 sites across the city – HQ in Horsforth, Kirkstall, Beeston and Chapel Allerton. They have around 50 staff but rely on 150 volunteers to provide their services.

They are a registered as a charity in their own right, but are affiliated to the national Mind charity and assessed every 3 years to maintain this.

1 in 4 will experience mental health issues
It is estimated to cost the economy 105 billion a year

The charity shops are run by the national Mind charity which is a campaigning organisation. A percentage of the profits from the shop go towards grants for the local Mind charities.

A 5 Year Forward Plan for Mental Health has been produced – this contains many of the figures and some of the general information shared by Helen – follow this link for more information.

Leeds Mind offer counselling, group therapy, social support, peer support, self-directed support, social prescribing, housing support, employment support, suicide bereavement support, and mental health training – many of these are run by people who have gone through the sessions themselves.

They are recovery focussed and work with people to achieve their goals to live the life they want.

They have a 30% success rate in getting people with mental health difficulties into paid employment against 9% from the DWP. They encourage self-help and self-management and are looking to set up some courses in Mindfulness next year.

Here they run courses as part of the Social Prescribing agenda and also fundraise through the running of a café. There are plans in place to build a training kitchen and have more exhibition and studio space.

Back by popular demand, Bev from A Dog Called Dill joined us for a Christmas themed crafty evening.

The room was all set up when guests arrived, ready to dig in and enjoy the papercraft evening.

Bev began by showing us all how to use the guillotine to make the perfect toppers for our cards. She also demonstrated how to make the perfect Christmas decoration and topper for Christmas cards and lables.

Once we'd chosen our design it was just a matter of fitting all of the pieces together. As always Bev was on hand to gives us all some hints and tips in regards to putting everything together.

This was done with gusto as everyone tried to get as much done as possible before the end of the session. I think some people even finished all of their designs!

Dea Latis is a group formed to change women’s perceptions about beer and encourage more women to consider beer as a drink of choice.

Annabel has over 25 years experience in the beer industry and shared her passion and knowledge with us over a few drinks & nibbles ….

We tried 5 beers in total

1) A wheat beer with smoked salmon

This was Erdinger Weissbier, this is slightly cloudy due to a protein in the wheat which cannot be brewed out.
The beer is light and not bitter. The beer cut through the fattiness of the smoked salmon.

2) A pilsner with Chorizo

Pilsner Urquell - a type of lager. Lager has only been around since the 1840’s but now makes up 90% of total beer consumed globally. Lager was discovered by accident when some beer was left in some ice caves and the yeast mutated. The term pilsner can only be used if particular Czech barley and hops are used, otherwise the term pils is used indicate a pilsner style beer.
We could smell toffee and caramel with this one, once tasted there were waves of flavours including some bitterness. The chorizo made it taste less bitter

3) A pale ale with mature cheddar cheese

Timothy Taylor’s Landlord – this one was amber in colour – actually a lot light than the original beers brewed but the steps made in the industrial revolution meant that brewing became more consistent. This beer is made from barley from Scotland or Northumberland and Hopes from Kent. We could smell toast and marmalade. The word to describe how the beer and cheese tasted together seemed to be yum.
We drank the bottled version which is pasturised, normally this is hand-pulled. If your pint if warm and flat, it is not being stored correctly – when Annabel was an inspector 13% of pubs failed with temperature of the beer being the main reason why.

4) An abbey ale with brie

Leffe Blond – which is derived from a beer originally brewed by Trappist monks but is now sold commercially.
These beers tend to be a bit stronger and are sipping beers.
They are popular in northern Europe.
The monks were literate, clean and patient - this led to good beer which they were able to sell to support the upkeep of their monasteries
This beer has added sugar and smells of vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon.
The sweetness of the beer completed the creaminess of the brie.
There are still 7 Trappist breweries left (6 in Belgium, 1 in France) – their beer is marked with a hexagon

5) A Kriek with Chocolate Brownies

Bacchus Kriek – made with all natural ingredients, not flavorings. Whole cherries including the stones are added to the fermenting vessels. The style of this beer is a Lambic which is fermented by being exposed to will yeasts in the atmosphere (specifically found in Belgium). We could smell marzipan and cherries, when combined with a chocolate brownie or some bonus dark chocolate, we got black forest gateau

The lovely Teresa set up all of the ingredients for us and helped set up cooking stations for all those enrolled on the workshop.

Teresa from the Armley Junk-tion Cafe

Sue Bond was the tutor for the workshop and she came armed with a number of recipes to make the most of the surplus fruit. There were some wild and wacky combinations including a fruity melon number and even a caramelized banana jam!

Surplus food at the cafe - all of which has been diverted from landfill.

After donning our aprons Sue explained the basics of jam making and we chose our ingredients and set to work.

Firstly we popped our jars in the oven to sterilize, after which we set about weighing and measuring all of our ingredients. After a few minutes of boiling, the first jam was ready for potting up!

It was such a fun evening and everyone went home with at least one pot of jam which they were really happy with.

On this balmy September evening, we were joined by Angela Broadhead with support from her friend Alison. Angela owns and runs Swithens Farm with her husband Ian.

Angela explained that Ian’s mother and father moved to the farm as tenants in 1963 when her husband was 5 years old. It was originally part of the Calverly Estate which had Oulton Hall as its manor house.

They grew potatoes and other vegetables on the farm to sell at the farm gate, kept livestock and ran a livery stable, where a young Angela kept her horse (and the rest as they say is history).

In the 1990s they converted to pig-farming in a big way and did very well out of it until that market crashed and they had to do all they could to avoid bankruptcy. They then started to covert old farm buildings into stables to build up the livery side again – they started with 4 and now have 110.

The in-laws retired in 2005 and at the same time the farm went up for sale – it was sold to company in the Isle of Man but when it went bankrupt Angela and Ian had to decide between a massive financial undertaking or losing the business they had rebuilt so far. They went for it and got a massive mortgage to buy the farm from the bank. They could not afford to buy the farmhouse, which in the end was bought by a close friend.

After a while as well as continuing to run the livery service they needed to decide what direction to follow to take the business forward – should they fully invest in cows & pigs (after their previous experience) or the farm shop route. Following advice from their friends at Blacker Hall Farm, Angela and Ian decided on the farm shop route. Along with the farm shop came a café, a play barn and animals.

If you visit, for a small entrance fee, you will see sheep, ducks, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, ponies, goats, cows, pigs including former pet pigs, chickens, rabbits and Meer cats

Angela gets given animals (Meer cats) or they find her (a stray cow!)

They also breed cows, pigs and sheep to supply the farm shop.
These animals are largely fed on the vegetables, grown on a neighbouring farm which the supermarkets reject. Swithens Farm collect 2 trailer loads a day!

The animals go to the most local abattoir possible for slaughter and then go back to the farm to be butchered.

The farm is a family business with Angela’s two daughters aged 28 and 30 managing the petting farm and the stable yard respectively.

Also Angela’s ‘retired’ parents help out either in the shop, as a carrot chopper or baking for the café.
The farm hosts all kind of events from kids’ parties in the play barn to the occasional tea dance.
There’s a dog training centre, a garden centre and an indoor riding arena on site and Swithens also plays host to horse shows.

Swithens Farm does a lot to support local and diverse groups including:

Free entry for disabled people

A dementia friendly café

All areas are totally accessible by wheelchair and double buggy (although not all will manage the tractor ride)

Local crafts for sale in the shop

Regular donations of equestrian equipment from the livery yard to Hope pastures

Supporting Candlelighters and Little Hiccups

Horses are still one of Angela’s passions – she has 3 and did do some show jumping but has now taken up dressage. She is has bred a foal from her dressage horse which just that day had been sent away to be schooled.

Angela brought some free range eggs for us to purchase and they seemed to disappear very quickly. She explained that these come from their brood of 300 chickens – they get around 200 eggs a day. They buy young chicks at the age when they are about to start laying but unlike commercial free range egg production they keep the chickens until they die naturally even when they have stopped laying.

Our hotly anticipated September workshop was an absolute blast - with everyone learning the new skill of crocheting a granny square.

The room was beautifully set up by our very own Lauren and Stephanie with instruction booklets, wool and crochet hooks. Each beginner got a starter square to practice their first stitches. There were also magazines to take away which were donated by the lovely Susan.

Lauren and Stephanie expertly guided the beginners through their first stitches

There was lots of chatter and a bit of wine thrown in for good measure. Once everyone had got the hang of the basic stitch and the pattern that made the square, we were then shown how to start the square itself. Interestingly the square starts with a circle! A slip knot is formed and then slip stitches for the base of the square.Lauren demonstrated to us all that beautiful and elaborate patterns can be worked up using just a simple 'single crochet'.

For our August workshop, 18 bopping bunnies and
rocking roses, along with a couple of guests, joined together for a beginners
ukulele class led by the fabulous tutor and performer Jessica Bowie.

Jessica
came equipped with a variety of ukuleles for the group to use, and started by
telling us all about the four most common sizes of instruments and how to
number our fingers, strings and frets. Playing in two teams to start with and
then as a whole ensemble, Jessica's enthusiasm had us al, strumming away and
singing along to (all together now!): Achy Breaky Heart, On the Bayoux (me oh
my oh), Alice the Camel (favourite of Brownie packs the world over), La
Cucaracha (for some very enthusiastic strumming!), and a magic chord medley.

It was a fantastic class where we all had a great time. Jessica's knowledge and
experience of the ukulele, and how she got into teaching and performing was
great to hear. Jessica teaches classes in Bramley Lawn and full details can be
found at her website: www.yourukuleletutor.com.

July was a lively meeting of two halves. To start we we joined by the lovely Sally and Karine from 'Fit to Bust'. As well as sharing their knowledge on bra fitting, and telling us that the straps are not meant to be the main support (who knew!) The ladies also told us about the best way to actually put your bra on which is: 1. put arms in the strap, 2. bend forwards, 3. fasten the bra at the back 4. pull the wire away, 5. move breasts in to position within the cups.They gave us a marvellous demonstration of this technique. If you fasten your bra at the front and then twist it around, you risk damaging the bra.Fit to Bust also hold fitting parties for a minimum of 6 people, contact Sally or Karine at fittobust for more details.Our next guest was Breast Care Nurse, Belinda Archer who talked us through some breast cancer facts.The cause of breast cancer is not known but is understood to be multi-factorial including; genes, lifestyle and diet. Belinda advised us to all get ourselves into a position to lower our risk of breast cancer - keep healthy, eat healthy, be breast aware. Self-examination is good but you may just as easily find something in the shower whilst washing or during sex. 76% of women experience breast pain during their lifetime - this is not a typical symptom of cancer. Know the signs. NHS symptoms checkerThere are many treatments for breast cancer and the size of the cancer relative to the breast will determine is a mastectomy or lumpectomy is required. Radiotherapy is used to kill cancer cells in the remaining tissue and Chemotherapy will most likely be used if the cancer has reached the lymph nodes.In 25 years the survival rate from breast cancer has increased from 50% to 80% which is an amazing statistic. NB to verify the accuracy of this information please check with your GP or use other resources such as: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-breast-female/Pages/Introduction.aspx, https://www.macmillan.org.uk/, http://breastcancernow.org/

On arrival at the Cosmopolitan
Hotel the attendees were greeted by the dance teacher, to be known as Madam
Vivalicious (who runs a Wiggle and Giggle group) and a glass of prosecco with a
strawberry and given a chocolate treat and an all important feather boa (colour
of their choice).

The workshop began with all
the attendees sat in a semi circle while Madame Viv explained how she came
about Wiggle and Giggle. Burlesque is often seen as very extravagant and
risqué but Viv wanted to make it fun and accessible to all (even shy
people!).

Viv explained that we should
all have a burlesque name to get into the spirit of wiggling and
giggling. She had some examples from her previous classes and we all
chuckled at some of them as Viv explained the origins behind people’s burlesque
names of choice especially Orgasm Olive (an unassuming elderly lady from a
quiet village) and Penis Grecio (one of her male burlesque workshop attendees
who happened to like wine!).

Buns and Roses attendees then
got into smaller groups as we came up with our own burlesque names, some of
these included Curvy Cupcake, Bootylicious Betty, Lady Lulu, Cheeky Cha Cha and
Cherry De Lush!

The workshop then got underway as we learnt various burlesque poses including the showgirl pose, Marilyn pose, how to bad girl walk (What are you looking at ?!?!) and various wiggles and shimmies!

We then learnt our routine and
split into groups to perform it for each other. The song we learnt the
routine to was called “The Stripper” by David Rose… you would know it when you
hear it! (we didn’t take our clothes off tho!!) The feather boas proved
to be interesting as we learnt that they could dye our skin as they were
new! We also learnt a couple of little dances including a little routine
to a Meghan Trainor song.

Fun and giggles were had by
all and we learnt a few new moves to show off when next on the dancefloor!

The end of the night was
marked by thanking Madame Viv and leaving the Cosmopolitan Hotel looking like
lots of colourful chickens had been there! Feathers everywhere!